Upright side support beam systems for shipping containers used with bulk liquid cargo

Abstract

An energy-absorbing upright support system apparatus includes high-strength roll formed tubular bars, and a bar-supporting sheet to distribute stress from product shifting in large shipping containers during transport. Parts are re-useable and can be quickly installed into the shipping container at selected locations such as near the container's doors. The bars can be swept and / or have deformed / configured ends shaped to engage channel features in side walls of the large shipping container. The bars may define spaced tubes and a tie rod for added strength. For example, the bars can be steel having 120 KSI to 220 KSI tensile strength, and have a cross-section 2-3 inches in depth and 4-6 inches in height, a length of 94 long, and a longitudinal sweep of 6 inches curvature.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]1. Technical Field[0002]The present disclosure relates to support beams, and support beam systems, for rigid shipping containers used to transport product-filled or partially-product-filled bulk liquid cargo tanks, for example but not limited to flexitanks.[0003]2. Description of Related Art[0004]As noted above, the particular type of rigid shipping container to which this application is directed is one that includes a bulk liquid cargo vessel, for example, but not limited to, large single or multi-layered flexitanks, such as that known under the trade designation “BIG RED FLEXITANK®”, available from Environmental Packaging Technologies, Ltd., assignee of the present patent. In actual use during shipping, bulk liquid cargo vessels are frequently used in combination with a large, box-shaped, rigid shipping container. In the case where the bulk liquid cargo vessel is a flexitank, when assembling these types of shipping apparatus, the initially-empty flexitank is placed...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0044]d) means for deterring collapse of the vessel during off-loading of the product.

[0045]Certain kits include those wherein the bulk liquid cargo vessel is a flexitank, and the flexitank is substantially seemless. Other kits are those wherein the means for deterring collapse are fasteners selected from one or more snaps, loops, hook and loop fasteners, and combinations thereof, securely attached to an external surface of the bulk liquid cargo vessel in a fashion so that the fasteners are able to engage in a cooperative, supporting fashion with a rigid container into which the vessel has been placed, thereby substantially deterring collapse of the vessel.

Problems solved by technology

The door-located end of containers is often problematic, and therefore has received most of the attention in terms of strengthening, because it is difficult to make a door and door-supporting structure “strong enough” to withstand impact without also adding excessive cost and weight to the container.

Damage to doors can result in constant maintenance and expense.

For example, when sorting railroad cars in a rail yard, the cars may encounter substantial jarring and high impact loads in excess of 75,000 pounds force as the railroad cars are rolled into one another for reconnection.

Also, wave action can cause large ships to roll and tilt, resulting in product shifting during transport, and resulting in substantial stress on and / or damage to a container, including its doors.

Despite strengthening the doors through use of various upright support system systems, many shipping container apparatus in use today suffer from various shortcomings in their sidewall strength.

One problem is that the rigid shipping container is often constructed to meet certain standards, such as International Standards Organization (ISO) standards, but using a minimum of cost and materials in order to meet those standards.

No. 20030146212, improvements to meet ISO standards normally add to the cost and tare weight of shipping containers.

Therefore no one has proposed a solution to this unique problem.

Vertical support posts are provided at each corner of the shipping container, and are “generally of sufficient strength to support a plurality of containers there-above”, but these are not removable or stackable when not in use, and there is no discussion or recognition of the problem of bulging bulk liquid cargo vessels, and their possible negative impact on the side walls of the shipping container, or of possible damage to the bulk liquid cargo vessels themselves.

In short, none of these references recognizes any problem with bulging of bulk liquid cargo vessels such as flexitanks on the side walls of the rigid shipping container, and so no solution has been presented to this problem.

However, such temporary structures are often “custom” installations that take significant time and labor to construct.

As a result, they are inefficient to construct, unreliable in strength, often are not as strong as desired, and often result in considerable waste since their materials are often damaged or destroyed when removed such that they cannot be reused.

Further, they often lack simplicity of components and interconnecting structure.

Aside from the risk of these liquid-tight containers shifting, the liquids and flowable materials themselves can wash and flow laterally in response to lateral-forces during shipment, adding to peak lateral forces during transport.

Notably, there is a load limit on liquid products that can be carried within a given shipping container, such that the liquids often do not fill their respective liquid-tight containers, which lets the liquids build up momentum as they wash and ebb and flow laterally.

Thus, there is an additional risk where liquid product itself shifts, aggravating the problem by adding to peak stresses and cyclical lateral impact loads.

Specifically, as such vessels are shaped to more closely fit within a rectangular shipping container, their side walls become flatter, making them more prone to bulging outward when they are filled.

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